


Exhaustion

by GildedGhost



Category: Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Gender-neutral Reader, Injury, Platonic Relationships, Slice of Life, Time Patroller Reader - Freeform, no y/n
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:54:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27946373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GildedGhost/pseuds/GildedGhost
Summary: After a long day of doing your Time Patroller duties you want nothing more than to go home and rest. Unfortunately one of your old instructors decided that right now was the best time to see how your fighting skills have have been coming along.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	Exhaustion

You were exhausted.

You had endured what felt like an endless amount of missions today since Fu decided to go on a rapid time-tampering spree. Jumping back and forth from the same time each time you left and making slight changes just to see how much of an effect it would have. Thankfully nothing crazy came from it but having to do basically the same fight over and over started to wear on you. Eventually you got permission to just wait for him there. When he showed up and saw you he laughed and seemed to leave it at that for the day.

It didn’t help your current instructor Vegeta, didn’t care one bit that you were overworked. You think he even went a little harder on you than usual when you slipped up and asked if you could just train tomorrow in what he barked at you was said in an unacceptable whiny tone. Big mistake. The beatdown you received wouldn’t have bothered you so much maybe if you were a Saiyan. Then you’d at least get a power boost from it.

You wanted to go straight home but you had to stop at the shop to grab some energy capsules. You kept telling yourself you’d pick some up in the morning yesterday but you forgot about it until you went to reach for one as a pick-me-up after your first mission, only to find your bag empty and just not having any time in between missions as alerts popped up rapid fire. You should probably grab some take out while you were in the area because cooking was not something you were going to be doing tonight.

Chronoa had been kind and had given you the next few days off as long as nothing too pressing happened. You were riding your vehicle back to the shopping district first, then your house to sleep for the next few days. Flying would have been faster but you liked the gentle thrum of the machine and you couldn’t have been bothered to spare the minimal energy needed for it.

You should have known things wouldn’t have been that simple for you.

As you were moving along you thought you heard someone call your name. Taking a quick glance around you didn’t see anyone trying to get your attention and continued on. It was only a few seconds later that you heard your name again, louder this time, and knew exactly who was trying to get your attention.

“Oh god not now,” You whined as the legendary Saiyan himself Goku, one of your former instructors, dropped down right in the path of your vehicle. You had to stop so abruptly you almost flew right off of it. You’d never understand how people could think these things were safer than flying, even if they were restricted to the ground. Once you regained your balance, saying a few curses under your breath, you couldn’t help but send a glare at him which he didn’t even seem to notice.

With that beaming smile on his face you weren’t sure you wanted to know what he wanted.

“Hey Goku,” you were sure anyone else would have picked up on the annoyance and anger coating your voice. “What’s up?”

“You wanna come spar with me for a bit?” Straight to the point as always. Was he serious?

“Absolutely not.” He seemed a little shocked at your blunt rejection.

“What? But we haven’t trained in forever and I bet you’ve gotten a lot stronger since you were training with me.” He was serious. Of course he was, it involved training.

You’d be lying if you said that statement didn’t inflate your ego a bit. That kind of comment from someone like him held some weight. “Thank you for the confidence in my abilities Goku but I’m really not feeling up to it right now, sorry.”

“Why not,” He whined. “It won't take that long. Just a _quick_ little sparring match.” He pinched his thumb and index finger together to emphasize his point with a smile. Knowing him it would turn out to be a bit more than a quick match.

“Goku I’ve been swamped with missions all day and I just got done training with Vegeta, maybe we can spar-”

“What! You’re training with Vegeta now?” Uh-oh. He was practically buzzing with excitement. “Wow now I definitely have to see what’cha got!”

“No Goku. I’m exhausted and I won't be able to even give you a decent match right now. Let alone the kind of fight you're looking for.”

“Oh come on, please? Pretty please?” He was looking at you with those big dumb puppy eyes and his hands clasped together. He must remember how easily you’d give into him when he begged for a fight, but you would not give in. You’d have to try a distraction.

“How about we go get some food? I think I could even out eat you right now,” you laughed. Food was one of the top things on what you’d say was Goku’s hierarchy of needs.

Unfortunately for you it wasn’t exactly at the top.

“Wow that’s a great idea. We'll get some food after our match!” You’re pretty sure he just selectively heard half of what you said. When he looked at you waiting for approval you didn’t say anything and just leveled him with a blank stare, crossing your arms.

When he saw you weren't going to budge he tried to plead again. “I really wanna see how all your training has been going since you’ve been gone. I promise I won't go all out! Just think of it like, um.” He put his finger to his chin in thought, then snapped them as an idea came to mind. “A check up from your teach to see how your fighting skills are progressing. It’s important for your teacher to check up on you don’t ya think?”

He was still staring at you with those big eyes and nodded his head like he made a fantastic point. It didn’t help that you had a bit of a soft spot for him as a person and mentor. Not only that but knowing him you wouldn’t get the peace you craved for the next few days if you didn’t get this over with. You were going to regret this.

You let out a drawn-out sigh, “You're not my instructor right now Goku but fine. You win. We’ll go have a quick match,” You pointed at him sternly, “but that's it!”

“Alright!” He pumped his fist in excitement. You're not sure what made him want to do this so badly right now but you supposed it would be nice to see how you’ve progressed.

“Remember though it's just going to be a quick match and we're keeping it simple.”

“Right, okay. Let's go!” He took off and you reluctantly put your vehicle back in its capsule and followed him.

You decided to fight within the training room in the Capsule Corps building since this was only going to be a basic spar and it would be quicker to get home from here than anywhere else. Thankfully Vegeta wasn’t here, he must have been off on a mission or beating up some of his other students. You did have one spectator though. Bulma was sitting off to the side with a few devices pointed in your direction. Apparently she wanted some new data to work with to make some new figures for the Hero Colosseum, which was fine with both of you.

At first you were both throwing some slow punches as you both warmed up. One thing about Goku you could appreciate was that he was always good at starting off easy and working up to using more power against his opponents. As you both took turns throwing punches and blocking kicks you could feel the ache in your muscles fade as you focused more on the fight.

Both of you were starting to pick up the pace now, and were putting more power behind your attacks.

“I can tell you’ve been training hard.” He said between blows. “You’re coming at me faster and harder without using as much power as you used to.”

“Thanks-” You blocked a kick that was coming at your side- “I guess it has been a while since we’ve sparred together.” You rolled to the side and threw a punch, clipping his shoulder.

“Can you two pick it up now,” Bulma was off to the side and you caught a glance of her tinkering with her machines. “I need you guys to really start going at it so I can get more raw data.” You could hear her mutter something about making multiple versions of Goku alone off his different power levels.

Goku backed up a step, powering up to his Super Saiyan state. “Sure thing Bulma! You ready?”

You backed up as well, taking a deep breath and fixing your stance. “Yeah. Let’s go.”

With that you both started attacking each other again.

You didn’t mean for the fight to go on this long, but the rush of the battle and your own interest in seeing how long you could hold up against one of Conton City’s strongest kept you going. It’s been a while since you fought against Goku like this. As far back as your early days as a Time Patroller, when you foolishly thought being the student of one of history’s strongest was a great idea. Since then you’ve been jumping around from instructor to instructor, training under whoever was best for what strengths and weaknesses you wanted to work on.

You both were getting more into it now, blocking, punching, and dodging your way around each other. He was landing more hits on you now which seemed to remind you of the already existing pain in your body, but you managed to get him good a few times too as you both danced around each other.

“Okay guys! Time to turn it up a notch. Don’t hold back!” Bulma excitedly called from the side.

Goku seemed to have heard her clearly as his hair turned blue and more power radiated from his body as he powered up to Super Saiyan Blue. Wait. Nope. Nuh-uh. This is where you called it. You could see now that this had evolved well beyond the simple fight you had talk about. Before you could open your mouth to tell him that you were currently at your limit he moved.

You barely registered in your mind that he vanished from in front of your eyes in a flash, not even having enough time to process a single thought as the world in front of you disappeared. Your vision was cut off completely and replaced with blackness.

The next time you opened your eyes was to a white ceiling. As you became more aware you could feel your body was well past the point of being sore and a migraine was growing behind your eyes. You squinted against the bright lights, recalling the last few seconds of the fight in slow motion as you played it back in your head.

_You felt your hair brush against your face as the air was suddenly displaced to your side, a form appeared in your peripheral, and felt as something connected with your head._

“...”

“...Damn it Goku.”

"Hey you,” you jump a bit, startled by the voice, “You're finally awake." You turned your head to see Bulma sitting at your bedside. You must be even more exhausted than you thought to not have even sensed her next to you. She placed a magazine down she must have been reading on the side table and picked up a capsule and passed it to you.

You looked to see the type and were overjoyed to see it was a Senzu Essence capsule. It was overkill for your pain and fatigue but you weren't about to complain. Popping the top off and dumping the contents in your mouth let a wave of instant relief wash through your body. With a pleased sigh the pain in your muscles and head evaporated and you felt more alert than you had in days.

“Bulma, you’re a saint. Thank you.” She smiled at your words.

“No problem. After seeing that fight and hearing that you were training with Vegeta earlier I’m sure half of those bruises were from those two anyway.”

“Oh? Vegeta was around?” You felt a bit embarrassed and worried that your current mentor probably saw you laid out on the ground like that, especially since he would be even more upset that it was because of Goku. He would probably have you training twice as hard, thankfully Bulma shook her head.

“No, Goku’s the one that mentioned your training.” She clarified, much to your relief. “Speaking of, mind if I let in a visitor?" You had a hunch you knew who it was.

"Oh, no. Go ahead." You said motioning toward the door as you sat up properly and looked around. Judging from the view out the window and the look of the room you must be in one of the rooms at Capsule Corp.

She walked over to the door and pulled it open a bit as she leaned out into the hall and harshly whispered, “Get in here!” She opened the door wide to let in your visitor.

You weren’t too surprised to watch as Goku came into the room nervously looking at Bulma until he looked in your direction. He gave your body a quick scan and when he realized you were fine he put on a smile and walked over, “Oh hey, how ya feeling?”

“Better than I have all day.” You replied honestly. Hopefully he wouldn’t take that as an invite for another match.

“Well that’s good! Maybe after you get some rest and feel up to it we can-”

“Goku!” You both looked at Bulma at the sound of her harsh voice. She must have seen where that conversation was heading and cut in. You'd have to pick her up something nice later as thanks.

He let out a nervous laugh. "I know, I know. No fighting talk. Anyway, sorry about knocking you out.” So blunt, as always.

That didn’t seem to be all though as Bulma cleared her throat and made a go on gesture with her hand.

"Oh! Here, I was told I should get you some flowers too," he said while reaching into his pocket and pulling out what looked to be some damaged wildflowers and holding them out for you.

You raised your brow at his impromptu bouquet. These were flowers that grew all over Canton City, a weed. Even though they were weeds they definitely didn’t look bad, well, except that they were a little ruffled from being in his pockets for however long he’s had them. Even though he had been told to get them you couldn’t help but let the sentiment warm your heart a little and smile.

However, you weren’t the only person to see his gift. Bulma, who’d been watching the exchange, seemed to bristle as she took in the poor flowers and was certainly not happy with what she saw.

"What- Goku! You were supposed to get them some nice cut flowers from a store! Not just any old weeds you found off the street!" she yelled, stomping over and pulling him down hard by his ear. Presumably to yell at him face-to-face.

“Ow!” He leaned down with the pull of his ear to keep her from pulling it even further, “Hey! You didn’t say I had to get special flowers.” He tried to placate her wrath, ”And these were next to a store. Besides they look pretty!”

“They’re weeds Goku! Honestly have you never-,”

"They're still nice," you reassured quickly. Seeing that this was going to go longer than it should have and feeling bad for Goku you decided to step in. "I accept your apology, thank you." Reaching out you cup your hands around the one that was strangling the stems of the abused flora.

This got Bulma to stop as she gave you a questioning expression. “Are you sure it’s fine? I can make him get you something better.” You nodded and she released Goku’s ear, which he rubbed at with a wince. “Well alright then. As long as you're fine with it then that's all that matters.”

You looked up to Goku, “Here I can hold ‘em.” You said as you gave his hand a weak squeeze to emphasize the point.

“Right, here ya go,” he said, handing them off to you. You examined them a bit more now that you were holding them. A few petals were crumpled or ripped and the stems were a bit droopy but they should survive.

“Um, Bulma. Do you think there's a vase or cup around here I could put these in?” you hinted at. You wanted to talk to Goku without Bulma hovering over the poor guy's shoulder for a moment. She recovered her usual attitude quickly at your question.

“I’m sure there is. I’ll go get you something.” She said as she made her way out of the room closing the door behind her.

The room finally settled with a welcomed silence for the first time since you’d awoken. You looked at Goku to see him still babying his ear. "I thought you said you would take it easy on me," you teased, pointing an accusing finger at the Saiyan.

He seemed to flinch at your words and held his hands up in front of him defensively, "Hey I did take it easy on you," he raised one arm and rubbed his neck in a sheepish manner, "Usually a hit like that wouldn't have knocked you out," he laughed nervously.

“The next time I say that I’m too tired to fight please listen to me. I know the limits of my own body well enough.” You reached out and lightly punched his arm. “Also pretty sure most people black out after getting punched in the head, not everyone can take a hit the way you can.”

He nodded in agreement at your words, “Sorry. Guess I just got carried away with wanting to see how strong you’ve gotten.”

You gave him a light pat on the arm, “It’s fine Goku, really. We’ll just have to try again another time.” It was at this moment that your hunger decided to make itself known with a growl. Senzu capsules might heal your body, but they didn’t do anything for your appetite compared to the real thing.

This seemed to get Goku’s attention and perked him up a bit. “Oh hey! Hold on.” He said walking back toward the door. He was gone a moment before coming back in the room with a pile of bags in his arms. “I remembered that we were going to eat after our match so I grabbed some food while you were sleeping.”

He set as many bags as he could on the table and the rest by your feet on the bed. He must have got at least one of everything on the menu.

“...”

“...Have I ever told you you’re my favorite teacher?”

Said mentor was currently stuffing some fries in his mouth while pulling a burger out of the bag with his free hand, he swallowed his mouthful, thankfully before speaking.

“I’m not just your teacher you know, we’re friends too.” He said matter-of-factly, before taking a large bite of his burger.

With a smile you decided to follow your friends lead and started rummaging through the bags, and grabbing whatever you felt like eating.

“Yeah, we are.”

**Author's Note:**

> This has been sitting in my drafts forever! This is one of a few Dragon Ball stories I have that were supposed to just be for fun when I have writers block with the larger stories I'm working on, only to become another problem itself. Instead of continuing to stress about it anymore I finally decided to just get it done. Honestly I feel a bit better now lol. Also haven't played Xenoverse in a long while so sorry for any inaccuracies.


End file.
